This invention relates to a very useful robot hand of a simple construction which has a pair of finger members which can pinch and rotate.
In recent years, the application of robots has been widely accepted in various technical fields. One type of robot which is used advances a prescribed operation with a workpiece pinched between a pair of finger members. However, the conventional robot hand which simply pinches a workpiece between a pair of finger members, namely, whose paired finger members can only be pressed against or detached from a workpiece, is accompanied with the drawbacks that a limitation is imposed on its workability. Namely, it has been impossible for a robot to carry out the same delicate work as is realized by a human fingertip. Therefore, a robot hand which can be rotated like the human wrist has been contemplated. In this case, however, the pinching operation of the fingers of the robot hand and their rotation are independently carried out. Therefore, the proposed robot hand is still limited in workability. If a robot hand capable of the above-mentioned pinching operation and of rotating its fingers by means of a master-slave type manipulator is made available, there is still the problem that the operator will suffer from a heavy work load.